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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The Runaway Jury
is American novel. The novel refers to fraud or conspiracy in a trial.
The Runaway Jury
was published in June 1996 by Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group in New
York. The first edition of the novel
The Runaway Jury
is in Hardback, The novel has 401 pages and 43 chapters.
The Runaway Jury
is much more than a sober and insightful novelization of the vagaries of civil law. This novel is a
thriller about two competing efforts to rig the jurys verdict. The Novel is written by John Girsham.
John Grisham was born in Jonesboro Mississippi in 1967. His career as a writer developed when he was at the age of 36 years old. He writes seven
novels. The titlle of his novels are
The Room
,
The Rainmaker, The Street Lawyer, Testament, The Brethren, The Runaway Jury
and
Broker
. All of the novel is becaming the best selling novel in each year. Started in 2001,
Grisham adapted for film and television, including
The Firm ,The Pelican Brief, The Client ,The Rainmaker and Original Screenplay The Gingerbread
Man.
This novel tells the story of a widow who demands a cigarette factory because her husband dies of cancer caused by smoking. According to
her, cigarettes have nicotine that makes people become addictive and lead to
death. The case ends up in court. The plaintiff demands to close the factory, but the factory party refuses, the factory party also has supporting parties led
by Fitch, he is a cruel and cunning person. Fitch has businesses in the areas of tobacco, which is very influential for the cigarette factory. Actually, this case
is not the first thing that happens, but Fitch always wins the case. Fitch uses a variety of ways to win the trial. He hires people to stalk
and bribes a jury. The jury in the case found a boy named Nicholas Esther. He knows what has been done by both parties. He also has a video cheating done
by Fitch parties. He does not put the interest of anyone, he is just looking for the truth. This is what is feared by Fitch, because Nicholas is very smart, he is
difficult to be influenced. Marlee, Nicholas’s girlfriend is influenced by
Fitch, He used her to search for information about Nicholas. Marlee is bribed 10 million dollars.
Suddenly on a night, Nicholas ’s apartment is burned. All goods are
burned and left only charred rubble wall. Nicholas suspects that Fitch has reason to do it by destroying video evidence in the apartment. However Fitch
does not remain silent, he becomes even more active in the jury at trial. Thus, Nicholas was considered by other juries as the head of jury. Nicholas argues
that the plant is given a verdict of 2 million in compensation and penalties for 400 million dollars. All the judges agree with Nicholas. the end the judges
agree with the arguments presented by Nicholas. The widow is very grateful to Nicholas. While Fitch can only accept that is defeated, he also receives a
thirst that turns Marlee also had tricked him that makes his company closed.
After a month passed, Marlee comes to Fitch, He has 10 million dollars to restore the hope of Fitch. Fitch is aware of what she is doing.
This novel has a customer review on Amazon.com. Amazon is a website that provides reviews about the world-famous novel. In the novel
The Runaway Jury
by John Grisham has 475 reviews. There are many readers giving comments about the novel. The researcher take two examples
representatives reviewer from Amazon.com. According to one of the reviewers on Amazon.com, Myrna Thayne
2013. After she read the novel, she very admired John Grisham. The novel was very impressive because this novel and most of the works of John
Grisham were based on a true story. Grisham wrote his novel carefully, he could make the reader explore the characters and places in the novel.
Besides giving positive comment, the readers also gave negative comment. For example the comment, one of the reviewers on Amazon.com,
Laura Sauer 2011. She said that John Grisham’s novel was less character
and caracterization, the story of this novel was too bland. This made the reader feel bored while reading this novel.
The novel has a many costumer review on Amazon.com because there are 2.8 million copies of the novel. At the end of 1996,
The Runaway Jury
was number ten on the list of the top ten bestsellers of the decade. The novel becomes the number one bestseller in Publishers Weekly for seven
weeks in June and July of 1996. At the end of 1996, estimated that Grishams income was 30 million.
Researcher chooses the novel because this novel is the top ten bestsellers of the decade. According to the researcher, this novel has a point
of interest in terms of structural elements, point of view, theme, plot, and moral message is very interesting.
Structural elements on this novel are strong. This novel has a strong character and characterization. For the setting, The setting is set in Biloxi,
Mississippi in the mid-1990s, and is yet another lawsuit against the tobacco companies. Grisham makes the plot seem predictable, which makes the twists
at the end even more effective and shocking to the readers. The story is told by an omniscient third person who facilitates the
many different plot lines that run through the novel. The narrator effectively relays the thoughts and feelings of all the characters, making us feel as though
we are seeing things through their eyes. This also gives us insight into where the plot may be going and there are many times where the reader knows more
than the characters do. Theme in novel
The Runaway Jury
has inspiring moral value. The theme is about how and fraud trial in America. The novel tells a story
between the two parties that want to resolve a case through trial. One of the parties cheats in order to win a court case. This novel has a very strong
political value. Besides getting the story from novel content, readers also get knowledge about the trial in the America.
Plot in the novel
The Runaway Jury
is forward. This novel tells the story about the trial started issues, then when the last conflict happens and
also tells the outcome of the trial. So the plot is easy to understand by the readers.
This novel also has a capitalistic ideology. Capitalistic influences peoples lives. A capitalistic control is conducted by a party who is able to
and has everything to win, while those who do not have it will be threatened and difficult to win a case. Because capitalistic is dominated by someone who
has everything. This novel also has similarities in that regard. When the party and the fitch fight a poor widow.
This novel has a strong moral message about world of politics. Based on the various conspiracies in trials in this novel, about the fraud done
by the Fitch and groups. It can be concluded that in the world of politics, the courts are not always fair. Therefore, the researcher tries to analyze political
problems in novel entitled
The Runaway Jury
by John Girsham with title: COURT CONSPIRACY IN CAPITALISTIC SOCIETY IN JOHN
GIRSHAM’S
THE RUNAWAY JURY
1996: A MARXIST CRITICISM.
B. Literature Review